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Catholic Ireland to be tested by abortion vote on whether to overturn near-total ban

The once staunchly Catholic country holds a vote Friday on whether to overturn a near-total ban on abortion. A vote to repeal the amendment, which states a fetus has an equal right to life as the mother, would leave three places in Europe where abortion is illegal unless a women's life is at risk.

Catholic Ireland to be tested by abortion vote on whether to overturn near-total ban

Ireland remains one of the last countries in Europe where abortion is still illegal.
USA TODAY

Pedestrians in Dublin on May 13, 2018, pass a billboard urging a 'No' vote in Ireland's referendum on Friday to preserve the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution, which outlaws abortion in most cases.(Photo: AFP)

DUBLIN – Ireland, a once staunchly Catholic country, will hold a national referendum Friday on whether to overturn its strict abortion law, and polls show the vote will be close.

If the measure passes, it will be another milestone for Ireland after it legalized contraception (1979), divorce (1995) and same-sex marriage (2015).

A "Yes" vote to repeal Ireland's Eighth Amendment, which states a fetus has an equal right to life as the mother, would leave three places in Europe where abortion is illegal unless a woman’s life is at risk: the microstates of Andorra and San Marino and Malta.

According to the Irish government, an average of nine women travel every day from Ireland to England to terminate pregnancies, and three women each day take abortion pills bought online, risking a 14-year jail sentence.

In the USA, President Trump plans to cut funding to family-planning clinics that offer abortion services. He vowed to appoint enough Supreme Court justices who oppose abortion to help overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion rights decision from 1973.

"For the first time since Roe v. Wade, America has a pro-life president, a pro-life vice president, a pro-life House of Representatives and 25 pro-life Republican state capitals!" Trump said Tuesday during an anti-abortion event in Washington.

Leo Varadkar, prime minister of Ireland’s center-right government, supports lifting the ban and allowing an abortion up to the 12th week of a pregnancy. Varadkar was elected Ireland's first openly gay leader last year — a watershed moment of its own.

The stakes are high for Irish women like Arlette Lyons, 40, of Dublin. Six years ago, Lyons and her husband, Alan, looked forward to the birth of their third child. A scan at 12 weeks showed a large buildup of fluid in the fetus' neck and head and severely under-developed heart and lungs.

Further tests revealed there was no hope. The fetus would die during the pregnancy or within minutes of being born.

"My obstetrician turned to me and said, 'If you want to end this pregnancy, it certainly won’t be in Ireland. You’ll have to travel to the United Kingdom,' " she recalled.

Lyons, like more than 3,000 Irish women each year, traveled to the United Kingdom to have an abortion.

In England, Scotland and Wales, abortion is legal for up to 24 weeks of a pregnancy. Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., has strict abortion laws, allowing the procedure only if the woman's life is at risk or her mental or physical health are in jeopardy.

Lyons, who went to Liverpool for the abortion, allowed the fetus to be used for scientific research.

Some Dublin residents said Friday's vote has nothing to do with a woman’s right to decide about her body, with religion or with Ireland's past cruel treatment of women; it is about protecting the rights of the most vulnerable.

"It’s the human rights issue of our time,” said Anne Murray, who advocates against abortions. "If a young girl gets pregnant, and if it’s a ‘crisis pregnancy,’ meaning she does not want it, if she sees an abortion clinic across the road, she's going to go and use it."

Mary Kenny, 24, from Limerick in western Ireland, could have been one of those women. She became pregnant during her second year of college in 2013. Abortion was her first thought.

"I never wanted a family. I was not ready for a child to crash into my life," she said. "Being pregnant was about the worst thing that could have happened to me."

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Supporters celebrate at Dublin Castle following the result Irish referendum result on the 8th amendment, concerning the country's abortion laws, on May 26, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Ireland has voted in favour of overturning the abortion ban by 66.4% to 33.6%, which is a "resounding" victory for the yes campaign. Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images

A woman breaks down in tears as the results in the Irish referendum on the 8th amendment concerning the country's abortion laws takes place at Dublin Castle on May 26, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Charles McQuillan, Getty Images

Yes voters celebrate as the result of the Irish referendum on the 8th amendment concerning the country's abortion laws is declared at Dublin Castle on May 26, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Charles McQuillan, Getty Images

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, center, gestures on his arrival, as campaigners wait for the official result of the Irish abortion referendum, at Dublin Castle in Dublin on May 26, 2018.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hailed a "quiet revolution" on Saturday as this traditionally Catholic country looked set to liberalize some of Europe's strictest abortion laws in a historic landslide referendum vote. PAUL FAITH, AFP/Getty Images

A young woman leaves flowers at the Savita Halappanavar mural as the results in the Irish referendum on the 8th amendment concerning the country's abortion laws takes place at Dublin Castle on May 26, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Savita Halappanavar who became the symbol of the Yes campaign to repeal the 8th amendment died aged 32 due to complications following a septic miscarriage in Galway, 2012. Charles McQuillan, Getty Images

A Yes voter supporter pictured as the results in the Irish referendum on the 8th amendment concerning the country's abortion laws takes place at Dublin Castle on May 26, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Charles McQuillan, Getty Images

Supporters gather at Dublin Castle for the result Irish referendum result on the 8th amendment concerning the country's abortion laws on May 26, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Ireland has voted in favor of overturning the abortion ban by 66.4% to 33.6%, which is a "resounding" victory for the yes campaign. Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images

Counting of votes begins in the Irish referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, in Dublin, Ireland on May 26, 2018. Official counting began Saturday in Ireland's historic abortion rights referendum, with two exit polls predicting an overwhelming victory for those seeking to end the country's strict ban. Peter Morrison, AP

A voter leaves the Marlborough Street National School polling station in Dublin, Ireland on May 25, 2018, during the Irish referendum on liberalising the abortion law. People in Ireland on Friday voted in a landmark referendum on whether the traditionally Catholic country should liberalise some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. BARRY CRONIN, AFP/Getty Images

A voter casts her vote at the Marlborough Street National School polling station in Dublin, Ireland on May 25, 2018, during the Irish referendum on liberalizing the abortion law. BARRY CRONIN, AFP/Getty Images

Members of the public hold no placards on Fairview road as the country heads to polling stations on May 25, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Polling stations are open across the Ireland where voters will decide whether or not to abolish the 8th amendment which makes abortions illegal in the country, except for circumstances where the mother's life is at risk. Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images

Members of the public hold no placards on Fairview road as the country heads to polling stations on May 25, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Polling stations are open across the Ireland where voters will decide whether or not to abolish the 8th amendment which makes abortions illegal in the country, except for circumstances where the mother's life is at risk. Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images

Garda officer Pat McElroy and presiding officer Nancy Sharkey pass a shrine to the Virgin Mary as they carry a ballot box back to their transport boat on Gola Island, off the Donegal coast of western Ireland, where 29 people are registered to vote in the Irish abortion referendum on May 24, 2018.
The inhabitants of Gola island voted Thursday, a day earlier than the rest of the country who will vote on Friday May 25, 2018. Voters will head to the polls to decide whether to repeal a constitutional ban on all abortions except in cases where the mother's life is at risk. PAUL FAITH, AFP/Getty Images

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, center, poses with activists from the "Yes" campaign, urging people to vote 'yes' in the referendum to repeal the 8th amendment of the Irish constitution, a subsection that effectively outlaws abortion in most cases, in Dublin on May 24, 2018. BARRY CRONIN, AFP/Getty Images

Activists from the "Love Both, Vote No" campaign, including politician Mattie McGrath, hold placards urging people to vote 'no' in the referendum to repeal the 8th amendment of the Irish constitution in Dublin on May 24, 2018. BARRY CRONIN, AFP/Getty Images

A woman walks past street lamps covered in placards from the "Yes" and "No" campaigns, urging people to vote in the referendum to repeal the 8th amendment of the Irish constitution, in Dublin on May 24, 2018. BARRY CRONIN, AFP/Getty Images

Garda officer Pat McElroy looks out to sea as he escorts the completed ballot papers on the Magheragallon ferry on May 24, 2018 in Gola Island, Ireland. The islands vote a day earlier than the rest of the country. Charles McQuillan, Getty Images

Then, three things happened that interfered. On the day she was supposed to travel, she realized her passport had expired, so she couldn't go. Instead, she ordered abortion pills on the Internet. They never arrived.

Finally, on a whim, she confided her situation to a co-worker she didn't even know that well.

"This colleague said in a very urgent-sounding voice: 'Mary, I have several children. They are all adopted.' I reached for my belly. It was the first time I had done that. When I later had a 12-week scan and saw the heartbeat, I knew what I had to do," Kenny said.

She now has a daughter, Hollie, who is 4½.

"I am convinced that if I had been able to go to an abortion clinic during those early stages, I would have gone through with it, and Hollie wouldn't be alive today," she said.

Gail McElroy, a political scientist at Trinity College Dublin, said Irish voters are split on abortion along traditional, predictable patterns — urban vs. rural, young vs. old. Even if the measure does not pass Friday, it will eventually, she said.

"There's too many young people in our cities who want this to happen," McElroy said. "The anti-abortion people will eventually 'age out.' If not now, than in five years, in 10 years."

For Lyons, who had another child, the change can't come quickly enough.

"I have been called a baby killer, a murderer, everything. If you get raped in Ireland, you are forced to stay pregnant. It's crazy, but it's not shocking anymore," she said.

Ireland’s National Maternity Hospital not looking a day older then when it was born in 1894. On Friday, Ireland will hold a vote on whether to make abortion legal up to 12 weeks of pregnancy #EighthAmendmentpic.twitter.com/JZKacJEW22